If you’re like me and have been within the video game and nerd music scene for any given amount of time, chances are you’ve been to a few shows featuring cover and tribute bands playing music live for a captivated audience. With Super MAGFest having just wrapped up not quite two weeks ago, and things like Rockage San Jose and VGM Con in the near future, I feel now is a great time to ruminate on all the performances I’ve been to and what stands out for me as some of the best I’ve ever been to, and hopefully exchange my experiences with other fans as well.

Two experiences pop into my mind. This past MAGFest featured Transformers and Rocky IV composer Vince DiCola joining VGM band LONELYROLLINGSTARS on stage for a live performance of some of the most iconic themes of his career. (Can be seen in the title image.) I’ll keep my synopsis brief as the whole show was beyond amazing, even beyond my bias (Full disclosure, I was artist liaison for LRS working MAG this year.) and the fact it was not technically game music, the moment when “Death of Optimus Prime” was played by DiCola and LRS and the scene displayed on the big screen, my heart felt like it was punched in it’s heart-gut. It made for a ridiculously memorable experience and one of the best shows I’ve ever been to for the music and the experience both.

The other show I can safely safe was probably the best in my lifetime of going to VGM shows was my first MAGFest, which was MAG 10 in 2012. This was the event that managed to get Final Fantasy composer legend Nobou Uematsu and his band the Earthbound Papas to come pay at the event. I have to say that it wasn’t the music that was the best part of that show, but the sheer excitement Uematsu displayed in stage while playing. When a legend in the game music industry cracks open a Sam Adams on stage, trolls the audience with a Colossus Roar, and moves onto the next song, it makes for a wild moment for fans.

So I ask the readers, what are your most memorable experiences attending game music shows, concerts and performances in your lifetime? Was it the music, the energy or just your general thrill that made it special? Let us know in the comments and let’s keep such memories alive as we keep making more in the future.

Originally offered to Kickstarter backers of Bitmap Books’ NES/Famicom: a visual compendium, chibi-tech’s Psycho Somatic Generation album is now available to all via Bandcamp. Commissioned as a stretch goal for the 2016 Kickstarter, the album features ten chiptune songs reminiscent of familiar NES/Famicom “house styles”. As chibi-tech explains, “for a long time now, I’ve been wanting to make an original album that closely emulates the composition techniques of various NES game music from the past.”

Chibi-tech goes on to add, “many games had their own distinctive take (both technique & style-wise) on NES music that oftentimes defined ‘the sound’ of their respective companies — up to the point where people say things like ‘Oh, that’s a Konami tune!’ or ‘That’s totally Capcom right there!’. My aim is to make my own original soundtrack that takes each different take and closely emulate both the musical technique & style with reasonable accuracy – while still putting my own distinctive spin.”

Adding to the authentic emulation is veteran composer Allister Brimble who did the final mastering on the album. Check it out for yourself on Bandcamp and grab it for pay-what-you like. Also, take a look at that Bitmap Books compendium — it’s gorgeous — as is their upcoming SNES/Super Famicom tome due out in February 2018.

It’s that time of year again, where we recollect on all of the things we saw, listened to or experienced in the past 365 days. The year 2017 had a ridiculous amount of good game releases and an equally good amount of good game soundtracks. As with our previous year-end wrap-ups, we’ll be going through our top picks for game soundtracks and game arrangement albums for 2017 and highlighting what we thought stood out the most among what we managed to get our hands on. I personally didn’t get to play through a ton of games this year (Sorry, NieR Automata and Super Mario Odyssey won’t be on my list), but I’ll list what I thought stood out from what I did play.

Another piece of Square Enix’s multi-year Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary celebration is drawing closer to release and there’s new musical details to be shared. Releasing January 24th, 2018 in Japan is “FINAL FANTASY 30th Anniversary Tracks 1987-2017“, a double Blu-ray, audio-visual anthology of 147 songs from the fifteen numbered entries in the series. Last week Square Enix revealed the full tracklist, conveniently organized by title, which you can dive into on their official site. And this week they posted a preview video showing off the visual treatment you can expect alongside all that music.

Another newly announced bonus of the Blu-ray bundle is that you’ll be able to copy MP3s of all the music off of the discs to a PC or wirelessly beam them to your phone, laptop, or other handheld devices. I feel like that’s an incredibly generous move for Square who could easily have put out a separate CD version for sale alongside the Blu-ray.

Sadly, this is another Japan-exclusive product but if you’re up to the challenge of international shipping you can pre-order the roughly $60 package from Square’s shop, Amazon Japan, or Play-Asia.

The combination of chiptunes and live instruments may not be a new thing these days, but the duo of Jeffrey “jmr” Roberts and Mikhail “streifig” Ivanov that make up the band Marshall Art helped to master the the concept in the past handful of years. Having released albums of both original compositions as well as arrangements of game music and even live performances at MAGFest, the chiprock team has created a synergy that sounds both retro and fresh at the same time.

With the recent release of their newest EP, Timeline, Marshall Art continues that trend while also bringing in the talents of post-rock musician Cory Johnson to craft a small tribute to old and new game music. The four-track album features arrangements of tracks from The Legend of Zelda, Chrono Trigger, Earthbound and Undertale that take a low-key progressive rock flavor interlaced with chip music that does homage to the roots of the track’s origins as 8 and 16-bit soundtracks while also keeping things sounding modern.

MASTER BOOT RECORD, who claims to be an old 486 PC “processing avant-garde chiptune, synthesized heavy metal & classical symphonic music” has revealed that he’s also responsible for the upcoming cyberpunk adventure game, VirtuaVerse. The game is from the three-man studio Theta Division, with MBR behind the story and music, and also marks record label Blood Music’s first foray into game publishing.

“The soundtrack of VirtuaVerse is in fact how the MBR project spawned in [the] first place. After writing it, and inspired by demoscene vibes and the cyberpunk worlds of our game, I added more synthesized metal and classical music and then ultimately created the sound of MASTER BOOT RECORD.”

To celebrate the announcement, the team have released the first glimpse of the game in the trailer above. VirtuaVerse isn’t expected until sometime in 2019 but if you like the sound of MASTER BOOT RECORD’s tinny, synthesized metal I’m happy to tell you there’s loads more to hear while you wait. Over the last year he’s released seven albums of original synthesized, chiptune metal music on Bandcamp as well as a growing collection of similarly styled video game covers.

You can listen to his treatment of classics including DOOM, Mega Man, Ultima, Flashback, LOOM, Duke Nukem, and many others on SoundCloud. You might even score a download of the album, titled WAREZ, if you buy some of his music or add it to your Bandcamp wishlist.

Sometimes our favorite game composers release little original treats for us to chew on inbetween games or after a long hiatus, such as Hip Tanaka’s recent release of his original chiptune album. Now it’s Mega Man composer Manami Matsumae’s turn to release her own original tunes.

Matsumae, in collaboration with music label Brave Wave Productions, unveils her first-ever original solo album THREE MOVEMENTS, which celebrates her thirty years of working as a composer in the video game industry. Matsumae’s career began in 1987 when she graduated from the Osaka University of Arts and joined Capcom’s Sound Production Department that same year. With THREE MOVEMENTS, she ventures into a new batch of chiptunes, trance and orchestral compositions, all stretched across three distinctive parts.

“By this point, I’ve created music for a number of video games. These songs come in a variety of genres, and I want everyone to listen to the different styles I’ve experienced throughout the years, which is why I ended up creating my album in this fashion.” – Manami Matsumae

The album is also inspired by a trip Matsumae and Brave Wave producer Mohammed Taher took to the Swiss Alps, using imagery captures by photographer Bao Hgo during the trip to influence the segments of the album itself.

“Unlike the typical solo album, this isn’t a genre album. Manami crosses chiptunes with everything from classical piano and SNES-inspired beats to melodically vague soundscapes and orchestral numbers. The music influenced our photography, and we toured around the Swiss Alps looking for the perfect shots.” – Mohammed Taher, Album Director

The solo album will be released on December 17th, thirty years after the release of the original Mega Man, and is currently available for pre-order on Bandcamp. The CD and vinyl will also be available to purchase on December 17th from the Brave Wave stores at Fangamer and Big Wax. The 2xLP vinyl gatefold is limited and individually signed by Manami Matsumae, and will include three exclusive tracks.

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